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Democratic education has been practiced and researched since over a century ago, rooted in the ambition that learners of all ages should have voice, agency, and authentic participation in shaping their learning environments. Today, however, the field faces a transformed landscape: growing polarization straining families, classrooms, and countries; learning happening more than ever both within and beyond school walls; young people reshaping politics in non-traditional ways; and AI introducing both promise and risk. This keynote creates a space for dialogue, learning, and collective sense-making about what democratic education means now.

 

The keynote will feature Dr. Linda Nathan (Harvard University), a globally recognized scholar-practitioner: democratic school founder, veteran principal, and lead author of the open-access book Designing Democratic Schools and Learning Environments: A Global Perspective, which profiles innovators and changemakers worldwide and has been downloaded more than 200,000 times. Her visit is a full-circle moment for OISE. Fifteen years ago, she was invited as a guest speaker by SJE department chair Rubén Gaztambide-Fernández. This event provides the opportunity to examine these urgent questions with someone who has worked with democratic learning environments around the world.

 

Through her keynote and a collaborative discussion, we will tackle four questions: